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Rep. Mike Moyle is Mad

It is a good thing Dan Popkey is willing to interview the childish, petulant members of the Idaho Legislature for the rest of us. I don’t think I could resist laughing in their face.

The latest to throw a tantrum is Majority Leader Mike Moyle.

Things were supposed to be different this year. Facing a budget crisis and united against raising taxes, Republicans running the Idaho House and Senate would set aside bad blood built over a decade and get the job done. Swiftly.

A month ago, the House’s dominant personality, that affable hothead, Majority Leader Mike Moyle of Star, said all was forgiven: “The House and Senate leadership are more on line than we ever have been before because we have a common enemy, a common problem.”

But on Tuesday, Moyle was so mad he wouldn’t speak, telling me twice to turn off my tape recorder. His beef: The Senate caved to state- and local-government retirees and didn’t have the spine to follow through on a leadership plan to kill a 1 percent cost-of-living increase in their pensions.

Ahh- that “affable hothead” Mike Moyle- all upset because the Senate refused to follow the ultra-right wing cabal in the House who were determined to deny Idaho retirees their 1% cost of living increase. He was joined by baby number two, Rep. Tom Loertscher,

This sets the stage for a budget wreck,” Loertscher said. “You have a few retirees show up out here on the steps of the Capitol and all of a sudden they get their way. It sends a signal that the way you ply the Legislature is go stand on the steps and holler a little bit and we’ll fold up.”

Fortunately, there were a few adults in the Senate who were unwilling to listen to Moyle, Loertscher and the other babies following the lead of the impostor Captain America. I wonder if the House babies really understand how much they have upset the adults that elected them.

[the] 48 House Republicans who thought the Senate had their backs are subject to being called anti-retiree. Among the critics is Boise City Councilman Vern Bisterfeldt, a longtime Republican who says he’s “mad as hell” and wants to tell “every retiree in Idaho so they won’t vote for those jerks again.”

Vern Bisterfeldt is also a former police officer and not someone I would want mad at me. I hope he is serious about heading a movement to give the House babies a permanent “time out”.